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This dance comes from the repertoire on the great New England caller, Ralph Page, and is called here by Dudley Laufman in the "Retrospective" session at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, January 19, 2013, Durham, New Hampshire. This year's session focused on square dances of many styles. The tune is Soldier's Joy, played by Two Fiddles (Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman, fiddles) and Old New England (Bob McQuillen, piano; Jane Orzechowski, fiddle; Deanna Stiles, flute).

Complete instructions for the dance will be found in the RPDLW 2013 Syllabus, which will be online (starting in January 2014) here.

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Swing in the Rear - Larry Edelman - Dances of Jerry Goodwin:

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Larry Edelman led a workshop session on dances he learned from the calling of Jerry Goodwin, originally from West Virginia but living and calling in western Pennsylvania when Larry studied with him in the 1970s. Some of the dances were ones Jerry had learned from his father. This particular dance illustrates an interesting way to dance "reel the set," with the gents passing ladies behind their back as all four do the usual hand turns of a southern do-si-do.

This was recorded at Dare To Be Square on November 19, 2011, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. Additional support for the weekend, including for this videotaping by John-Michael Seng-Wheeler, was provided by Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). The weekend brought together six well-known callers and some 70 square dance enthusiasts from around the country to explore different traditional and modern styles.

Musicians for this session were Claudio Buchwald and Steve Hickman, fiddles; Jim Morrison, guitar; and Sam Bartlett, banjo. The tune is "Soldier's Joy."

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Schroeder's Playboys - An Appreciationby Tony Parkes, August 2012

If I could be transported back to the 1950s and had my choice of any one square dance band to hear and/or dance to live, it might well be Schroeder's Playboys in Phoenix. I've seldom heard such sheer energy, combined with technical skill and tight teamwork.

The hoedowns are collectively the finest example I've found of the Southwestern style of square dance music, characterized by slower-than-Appalachian-or-Coloradan tempos, punchy guitar rhythm, and bouncy, almost dotted-note fiddling. Compare "Soldier's Joy" with the same tune as played by Floyd Woodhull's group from New York state. They're both excellent, but in very different ways.

"Raggin Up Annie" is a gem. It has to be heard more than once to appreciate the fiddling. This is a prime contender for my favorite recording of my favorite tune - at least, my favorite recording of those intended for dancing. The finest of all Ragtime Annies is probably Byron Berline's on his album "Dad's Favorites," coincidentally also played in Southwestern style. A 30-second sample is here.